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Aleksandr Lukashenko said on Friday that only the people could allow opposition members to serve in government positions. "The opposition can take key or any other posts only if this decision is made by the people," he said while talking to workers at the Belshina tire factory in Bobruisk, Mogilyov region, on November 17.
The Belarusian leader noted that he would not mind if people decided that new people should be on local soviets. He suggested that voters should elect not pro-opposition or pro-government people to local soviets but those whom they know and trust.
However, he noted that those who bow and scrape before the West, rejoice at the news that Russia may raise the oil and gas prices for Belarus and do not care how this would affect common people should hardly be elected to local soviets. "Who needs such oppositionists? Who needs such people in the government?" he said.
Mr. Lukashenko pointed out that he would not call for voting for anyone. He suggested that if there was a "normal and smart" person among the opposition who was expected to care for the voters' interests, the locals should elect him. "But you should know that the soviets now have their own functions; they are not to renovate streets," he warned. "This is a function of the executive branch of government. That is why the one who vows that he will make paradise for you, why has he not yet done so?" "Pose lots of questions to candidates but decide yourself. I'll accept any choice," Mr. Lukashenko concluded. //BelaPAN